President Donald Trump's
administration has ordered American envoys to seek direct talks with the Taliban to end
the country's longest ever war, in a major shift after years of US diplomatic
policy on the conflict.
The change in White House
stance rolls back a long-held position that any talks must be led and
controlled by the Afghan government.
Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of
State, has now told diplomats to seek initial talks with the militant insurgent
movement to try to kick start a wider peace process to end the 17-year-long
conflict.
The shift marks a significant
concession to Taliban
demands and comes amid frustration in the White House that Mr Trump's decision
last year to ramp up the war has so far yielded few results.
"Our Secretary of State, Mr
Pompeo, has said that we, the United States, are ready to talk to the Taliban
and discuss the role of international forces," said General John
Nicholson, the top US commander in Afghanistan, as he confirmed the news, first
reported by the New York Times, on Monday.
"We hope that they realise
this and that this will help to move the peace process forward."
Taliban leaders
have long said they will not talk with the Kabul government, which they see as
a puppet regime, and will instead only talk with America, which ousted the
movement from power in 2001.
In a statement last month
the Taliban said: “The invading American party must realise and understand the
reality of the situation, stop pointless stubbornness, sit directly for
dialogue with the Islamic Emirate to find a solution for the ongoing imbroglio
and withdraw their occupying forces from Afghanistan.”
Senior American officials
including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have met major players in the region
in recent weeks to lay the foundations for talks, the paper reported.
Sohail Shahin, a spokesman for
the Taliban's political office in Qatar, said he was still waiting for
confirmation but welcomed signs of the new approach.
"This is what we wanted and
were waiting for, to sit with the US directly and discuss the withdrawal of
foreign troops from Afghanistan," he said.
The move is likely to be met
with deep suspicion in Kabul. Under the previous president, Hamid Karzai,
several tentative peace initiatives failed because of Afghan fears a deal would
be done behind the government's back.
After dramatically scaling down
forces as part of the withdrawal of Nato combat forces in 2014, Mr Trump last
year agreed to send more troops and said they would now “fight to win” against
the Taliban and Islamic State group.
Under more aggressive rules of
engagement, troop numbers have been increased and the number of air strikes has
dramatically risen.
Yet the Afghan government has
been unable at the same time to extend its writ, with Kabul still only in
control of half the country's districts, according to a an independent US
congressional watchdog.
It comes as a United Nations
report found the number of civilian deaths in the country had reached a record
in the first half of the year, with a surge in suicide attacks claimed by the
Islamic State terrorist group (Isil).
The report followed an apparent
suicide attack close to a government building in Kabul on Sunday which killed
at least seven people and wounded more than 15.
Deaths rose one per cent to
1,692 from the same period last year, although overall civilian casualties were
down by three per cent, according to the UN assistance mission in Afghanistan's
latest civilian casualty report.
The main causes of casualties
were ground engagements between security forces and militants, roadside bombs,
as well as suicide and other “complex attacks”, which caused 22 per cent more
casualties, the UN's latest civilian casualty report found.
Isil was said to be responsible
for 52 per cent of casualties from suicide and complex attacks, while 40 per
cent were attributed to the Taliban.
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